


kissing at the stop signs darling

by fffearless



Category: 5 Seconds of Summer (Band)
Genre: M/M, Road Trip!!!, also established lashton, bit of smutty lashton, fluffy lashton, lost boys kinda, sucky lives, tbh this is pretty cute, they have a lot of fun
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-08-08
Updated: 2014-08-08
Packaged: 2018-02-12 08:39:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,478
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2102826
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fffearless/pseuds/fffearless
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"I think, guys," Ashton says finally, and everyone is all ears. "We need to get away." He gives Luke's knee a quick squeeze. "Let me just get us some more milkshakes."</p><p> </p><p>(Or where the boys hate how boring everything is and take a self-realisation road trip to help sort it all out)</p>
            </blockquote>





	kissing at the stop signs darling

**Author's Note:**

> oh my gosh i wrote non-stop for two days and this is what happened.
> 
> i have no idea what i was thinking, i am neither from australia or have any idea what it's like down there. google provided me with essentially all of the information on australia in this, but i apologise in advance for any inaccuracies.
> 
> title from long way home by 5sos of course, enjoy!
> 
> (also i am on tumblr at imaginaryluke if you wanna come say hi)

**Luke: Maria's later? Bro talk is needed**

**Callybear: me too. cya later.**

**Mikey: yep!!**

**Irwie: see you there, milkshakes on the house xox**

—

Luke enters the diner at approximately 8:37pm and sees that Calum is already in his usual seat in their usual booth in the corner closest to the counter. 

"Hey man," Luke says as he slides in opposite Calum.

Calum looks up from his phone. "What's up," he says, locking his phone and putting it to one side.

"Ugh," Luke says. "Let's wait til Michael gets here and Ash is on a break."

"Hello gorgeous," a voice says and the pair look up to see Ashton rollerskating over. He dumps a couple of strawberry milkshakes on the table and pecks Luke quickly on the lips.

"Awww thank you honeybunch," Calum says in a faux girly voice.

Ashton leans over and smacks a massive wet kiss on Calum's cheek. "And hello to you too," he laughs as Calum wipes at his cheek with a look of distaste. 

Luke laughs and Ashton stands up again, puts his hand on the back of Luke's head. "Should be finishing soon," he strokes Luke's hair. "Be back as soon as."

Before either Luke or Calum can open their mouths Ashton's sped off on his rollerskates and is crashing into the swinging doors of the kitchen. Someone yells and they hear Ashton giggling. Luke rolls his eyes fondly, and that's when Michael appears.

He thunks down next to Calum and takes a huge gulp of his milkshake. "What's up guys," he says, putting the glass down and wiping his mouth with the back of his hand.

Calum just looks between his glass and Michael. His glass and Michael. "That was mine, asslamp," he says.

Michael shrugs. "Ash will get you another one, wanktrain."

Calum narrows his eyes regardless, Michael just grins.

—

At around 10:17pm Ashton finally joins the trio, bringing another round of milkshakes with him.

"How does Maria feel about you giving away free beverages?" Calum asks, taking a sip from one of the milkshakes.

Ashton shrugs, straw in his mouth. "Maria loves me," he says simply, and continues sucking.

"Mm," Calum says, satisfied with the answer. Everyone loves Ashton.

At this point Maria herself arrives, an old Spanish woman with a face that's a roadmap of laughter lines. "Ashton," she says in her heavy accent. "Lock up for me darling, I'm going home."

"Sure thing Maria," Ashton grins. "Have a good night!"

She smiles back. "You too. Goodbye Ashton's friends and boyfriend."

"Goodbye Maria!" Calum, Luke and Michael chorus, and the bell on the door dings as she exits. 

There's silence for a moment as each of the boys slurp at straws, seemingly deep in thought.

"Didn't we need to talk?" Calum asks.

The other three nod like bobble heads on a dashboard. Loose and out of sync.

"As caller of the bro talk I nominate that Luke has to talk first," Michael says, his glass now empty.

Luke nods. "Yeah. Well, um," he cups his jaw and scratches at his stubble. Ashton puts a hand on Luke's knee under the table. "I don't know, I just feel that like, everything's a bit like, mundane recently? Just really boring and stuff. I graduated uni the other day and I haven't done anything since. I can't even find it in me to look for a job, I don't even want a degree in Accounting. I hate Accounting. I don't want to be an Accountant. I want to do something fun and cool and awesome and I just. I just don't really know what to do."

The three boys nod as they digest the information given.

Calum speaks first. "I know what you mean, I've been feeling a bit like that too. Like I'm waiting for something that's never gonna happen? I hate working at the supermarket, I hate that I dropped out of school. I need to sort something out, I need to go back to college or something."

Again the nodding ensues.

"My band is shit," Michael pipes up. "Our fucking drummer left so now we're just a couple of guys with guitars and we suck so bad, we only ever play gigs in Sydney in like 100 capacity venues and it's just so lame cos this was my dream, and my parents are disappointed in me and I want to make them happy but I can't, not when I'm not even happy myself."

There's a defeated silence around the table and Luke is waiting for Ashton to say something. He knows Ashton doesn't want to work at the diner, knows he doesn't like it here. 

"I think, guys," Ashton says finally, and everyone is all ears. "We need to get away." He gives Luke's knee a quick squeeze. "Let me just get us some more milkshakes."

—

Ashton returns with a tray of milkshakes in one hand and a wodge of paper in the other. He drops them both down and the other boys look at him like he's got the answers to life's greatest questions. (Luke looks at him like that always.) 

Ashton is smiling as he unfolds the paper, and eventually a massive A2 map of Australia is revealed. "Road trip!" He exclaims.

The other boys blink. Slowly they start to nod and look more confident, and they wait for Ashton to go on. He does, smoothing the map out on the table so the other boys can see. He places a skinny finger over Sydney.

"We start here, of course, and make our way down to Canberra," he slides his finger down to the cities as he speaks. "That doesn't take long, and we can spend the afternoon there. From Canberra we can go on to Melbourne, then down to Adelaide-"

"Those journeys are like eight hour drives bro," Michael interjects.

"So?" Ashton beams. "You all want to get away, so let's get away. And I was thinking, this is a bit of a stretch, but from Adelaide we can go on to Perth..." Ashton is testing the water here. 

"A thirty hour drive..." Calum says, thinking out loud. "I'm so down," he grins, reaching over Michael's head to give Ashton a high-5.

"Yes Calum!" Ashton says. "Luke?"

"Of course babe, anything with you," Luke answers, kissing Ashton sweetly on the mouth.

Calum and Michael don't even bat an eyelid anymore. Lashton have been a thing for years.

"Michael?" Ashton asks. "You in?"

Michael takes in all his puppy-eyed friends and grins. "Course I'm in! Roooad triiiip!" He yells, laughing, and all the other boys cheer and laugh too, the excitement clearly getting to them.

"Let's go tomorrow," Ashton says. "I'll phone in sick."

Calum, Michael and Luke nod. "Tomorrow," they agree, and shake on it.

—

At 11:19am Ashton's car pulls up outside Luke's parents' house. (Temporary, only because he recently finished uni. He is looking for somewhere else). Ashton beeps the horn and the door to Luke's parents' house is flung open.

"Ashton!!" Luke's voice yells, loud enough for the whole street to hear. "Help me!"

Ashton laughs and gets out the car, slipping off his sunglasses as he steps into the house. Luke is on the living room floor surrounded by a mass of clothes and bathroom products. 

"What do I take?" He practically wails, and Ashton just stands, laughs.

Mrs Hemmings walks in at that moment. "Oh hi Ashton," she smiles. 

"Hey Liz."

She looks down at a pouting Luke, who is eyeing the piles in front of him. "He's been like that for at least an hour," she shrugs. 

"I don't doubt it," Ashton smirks and Liz smiles at him, shakes her head and heads back into the kitchen.

Ashton decides he'd better help Luke out if they're gonna leave today. 

If there's one thing you need to know about Luke, it's that he only ever wears black clothes. Ashton sits crossed-leg opposite Luke but behind a pile of skinny jeans. "Hey," he says.

Luke is biting down on the black ring pierced through his bottom lip. "Hey," he says absent-mindedly. "I'm thinking, two pairs of jeans and five shirts. Is that enough?" Luke questions.

"Yes babe," Ashton grabs his open bag from the couch and lets Luke stuff the clothes in there. 

"Okay," Luke breathes. "Now what hair products do I need?" He genuinely sounds worried.

Ashton laughs and leans forward, captures Luke's unsuspecting lips in a kiss. "Babe, calm down. Let me do it for you."

Luke nods and Ashton grabs a plastic bag, fills it with a toothbrush, hairbrush, a face cloth, can of dry shampoo and a can of hairspray. "Good, yeah?" Ashton asks and when Luke tells him yes he stuffs that in Luke's bag too.

"Okay, let's get this show on the road."

—

"Bye mum!" Michael yells across the street as he climbs into Ashton's car, leaning over to toss his bag and guitar into the boot.

"Why didn't you just open the boot from outside?" Ashton questions, turning around to look at him alone on the backseat.

Michael shrugs. "How come Luke gets shotgun?"

"Because I love him," Ashton says simply, and they drive off to get Calum. 

–

"How come Luke gets shotgun?" Calum asks after putting his bag in the boot like a normal person. 

Ashton doesn't say anything, just yells "seatbelts!", then hurtles his car forwards out of Sydney and towards the highway. 

—

It's been ten minutes and they're already arguing. Over what album to play. Or what playlist to listen to. Or what song sounds best in the morning sun. Or something. Ashton isn't really listening, he's just getting annoyed.

Luke can sense it and he leans forward to put his hand over Ashton's, the one that rests on the gear stick. Michael and Calum are still yelling in the back seat, something about All Time Low, no, Fall Out Boy, no, Panic and Ashton is close to bursting.

"Guys!" He yells. "How about shut the hell up yeah? We're gonna be in this car a long time and if you don't shut up I'm chucking you both to the side of the road and me and Luke will have this road trip and we'll come back as fathers-"

"Impossible," Calum mutters under his breath.

"And gross," Michael adds, louder, and Ashton tells the both of them to shut up.

"All I'm saying is," he says, switching lanes. "We're gonna be here for hours, days even, and if there's arguments none of us are gonna be happy yeah?"

Michael and Calum nod begrudgingly and Ashton smiles. "Great. And we're listening to Paramore."

Luke smiles admiringly and slips the CD into the player. He takes Ashton's hand again and squeezes. "I love it when you take control," he says. 

Ashton winks. "I know."

Luke shoves his arm playfully as Calum and Michael sing-yell to Fast In My Car. 

"The irony!" someone that sounds like Michael yells, and a Calum voice says back "it's a coincidence, actually."

"Fuck off smartarse," Luke hears and he laughs. Ashton laughs too.

—

2:34pm and Ashton is pulling up in a car park in Canberra's city centre. He shuts off the engine and Dave Grohl's voice disappears with it. They all stumble out, legs like jelly, and stretch for a minute (with added incoherent grumbles).

"Where to then lads?" Ashton asks, the early summer sun lighting up his entire being. 

"Food," Michael says. "I saw a Nandos."

"I'm down," Luke shrugs, and Calum nods.

"Okay, food first."

—

They've eaten so much they're pretty much rolling around the city but they've seen all sorts like the old Parliament building and the Australian war memorial and now they've come to a lake.

"Ash!" Luke yells excitedly. "Look! You can hire boats, let's hire a boat!" He turns to Ashton with the cutest grin he's ever and seen and really now, how can he say no?

That means Michael and Calum are automatically roped in, and despite a lot of reluctance, the four of them end up in two separate pedalos. 

"Us vs you!" Luke yells across to Michael and Calum who sit rather uncomfortably in their tiny boat. "We'll race you!" 

Ashton laughs, low and melodic in Luke's ear, as Michael and Calum try to shout their protests.

"3...2...1... Go!" Luke yells excitedly, and he and Ashton start to pedal manically.

"Wait, what?!" He can hear Calum yelling, and a lot of splashing, and he turns to see the pair of them struggling to pedal in sync. Luke cackles a laugh and Michael throws up a middle finger.

When they're far enough away they slow down their pedalling and Ashton reaches across to tangle his fingers with Luke's. 

"This is nice," he comments, face turned upwards towards the sky.

Luke hums in agreement, looking up too. There's no clouds, just endless blue, and it's weird because it looks like if Luke reaches up he might be able to touch it. His face feels hot after a minute and he looks back down. 

"In the diner you never said what you didn't like," Luke says. "Like, about your life." He's not fishing, he's just stating the facts.

Ashton brings his face down too. "I know," he replies.

Luke frowns but Ashton smiles, perfect and crinkly and Luke tries to lean forward to kiss him without tipping the balance of the boat. They've stopped pedalling and Ashton helps Luke out, so both of them are leaning forward, and they kiss, slow and sweet. They kiss for a little while, hands reaching up to cup faces and stroke hair and it's nice until-

"Ay losers!!!" Michael yells as he and Calum zoom past. Well, as close as you can get to zooming in a two-man pedalo (which is actually not very fast at all). They're in front now and he adds "that's why I don't have a girlfriend, so I can win stupid boat races!"

Luke and Ashton laugh as Michael and Calum pedal further and further away, cheering about how great it is to be single.

After they've returned the boats Michael demands Luke and Ashton buy him and Calum ice cream as they _were_ the rightful winners of the race, duh, and they give in, smiles making their faces ache as they hand Michael and Calum their cones.

They head back to the car after that, but briefly wonder if they should get a place to sleep for the night.

"No," Luke says quietly, gripping Ashton's hand. "Let's drive through the night and look at all the stars. We can take the back roads."

And again, how is Ashton supposed to say no?

—

9:54pm, two hours into the seven hour drive to Melbourne. It's fully dark now, and the boys watched as they out-drove the sun and then the sky, as it chased them turning from blue to pink to orange and now a dark inky blue, pierced with silver stars.

The radio is on low, John Mayer is playing, and someone is asleep in the back. It's Calum, legs spread across the back seat and tangled with Michael's who sits as his mirror. A SnapBack covers his face, only the gentle snores giving it away.

Luke watches Michael scrolling through his phone, and Michael must sense it because he starts to talk. "Why is it so hard to find a drummer man?"

Luke blinks, and sneaks a glance at Ashton. He's acting like he can't hear them but Luke knows he can. "I don't know," Luke says eventually, after realising Ashton isn't going to say anything. 

"Like, it doesn't even have to be a permanent thing. If they've got a job we can work around that, we just need someone dude. We suck so bad."

Luke is telepathically begging Ashton to open his mouth and say something, _anything_ about how he is in fact a drummer and all he's ever wanted to do is drum in a world-famous band but still, Ashton says nothing.

"I'd keep looking," Luke says encouragingly. "They might be closer than you think."

—

12:03am and the whole car is awake. Calum is the only one rested, the other boys are just over-tired. They're practically vibrating as they speed down deserted back roads blaring out One Direction.

"BABY YOU LIGHT UP MY WORLD LIKE NOBODY ELSE," Michael is yelling at Calum, although barely audible over the volume of the speakers, using his phone as a microphone.

The other boys join in, Calum singing back to Michael and Luke singing to Ashton as he drives. When the song finishes Luke dials the radio down. "Shall we stop for a bit? Stretch our legs and watch the stars?"

It's agreed that this is a great idea and Ashton pulls over into what is essentially just dirt, so they grab a blanket and all plonk themselves down after having a quick stretch. All but Michael, who goes to the boot and produces three cans of warm beer.

Ashton pouts, sad to be missing out, but he knows he shouldn't. They crack open the cans, Luke even feeding Ashton just a tiny bit whilst the other two aren't looking. They sandwich themselves together on the tiny (for four six foot plus men) picnic blanket and angle their heads to the sky.

Luke's hand holds Ashton's in the silence of the admiration at the sheer beauty of it, because you don't see the stars like this at home in your garden through the clouds of pollution so this is like, something else. Luke's wishing on the brightest ones he can find, trying to remember the little rhyme from Pinocchio, as Ashton unknowingly does the same. Actually, as all of them unknowingly do the same.

It's quite a sight, four lost boys placing everything they hope for on a couple of stars. 

—

When Luke wakes up it's 3:02am and Ashton is lifting him out of the car. "Wha-"

"Shh Lukey, go back to sleep. We're just stopping in a hotel for the night."

Through Luke's slitted eyes he can see Michael and Calum stumbling through the hotel's door and he just thinks 'okay', and snuggles into Ashton's warm chest.

—

The sun is bright at 12:27pm as the clan stroll around Melbourne in rolled up jeans. They're not really doing much, just looking at all the sights and snapping pictures on their phones, and Luke is holding a leaflet that he found in a store they stopped in for a second so they could get something to drink. 

"Do you guys wanna go to the zoo?" He asks, lifting his sunglasses from his face.

"Yeah, that sounds cool," Michael says, and so they go to the zoo.

Needless to say, they have a great time. Michael picks up Calum and threatens to throw him in the tiger pit, to which he receives a thorough telling off by one of the zoo keepers. Michael scowls like a little boy and shoves Calum when he laughs at him. Ashton and Luke stroll ahead slightly, fingers locked loosely, looking at the lions.

"He has hair like you," Luke says to Ashton, giggling, and Ashton doesn't know if he should feel offended or not.

He decides against it, pointing forwards where he can just about see a baboon enclosure. "And he has hair like you," he says, poking his tongue out.

Luke gasps, hand over heart. Ashton laughs, picks up their entangled fingers and kisses the back of Luke's hand. "You wear it better, of course," he adds and Luke just shakes his head.

The monkeys are the best bit, of course, and the red pandas, cos they're all so cute and funny, and by the time they're out of the gift shop with enough souvenirs to sink a ship, it's already 5:23pm. 

"I'm hungry," someone complains, and there's some grumbled agreements so they try and find a place to eat.

There's a Chinese place not too far away and they stop in there and eat too much. Two hours later and they're trying to find where they parked the car when Luke sees a tattoo and piercing place. He swivels on his heel to face the other guys with a grin so big you could fit a car in his mouth.

"Guys," he says, and the other boys haven't seen the parlour yet. "Wanna get tatt-"

"No," Ashton says abruptly, spotting the place and cutting Luke off before he can finish. "No I don't."

"Boring," Luke mutters. "Cal? Michael? You can add some more to your collection?"

Calum and Michael eye their ink-splatted arms. Calum shrugs. "Could fill the sleeve in a bit more," he says.

"Yeah," Michael adds. "I've been meaning to start my half sleeve ever since I got these bands a couple of years ago. Let's do it."

"Yay!" Luke cheers, and Ashton frowns. 

"Just don't get anything stupid," he says just as they open the glass door into the shop.

—

10:47pm and everyone is tattooed but Ashton, who stands inspecting everyone else's work with an unreadable expression.

Calum's got a sun tattoo, one with a face, on the ball of his shoulder and if he's honest, Ashton thinks it looks quite nice. Michael's got a large red rose covering quite a lot of under forearm and really Ashton should have known he'd get something like that.

Luke is last in line, trying to conceal his huge grin, and Ashton looks him up and down. 

"I can't see it," he says.

Luke nods. "I know."

Ashton furrows his eyebrows. "Well _can_ I see it?"

Luke grins again and starts to lift up his shirt. Ashton watches, his stomach is empty and so is most of his chest, it's not until Luke has his shirt completely off that Ashton (and the other boys) can see it.

"‘If you don't swim you'll drown’," Ashton reads the cursive stretching across Luke's chest from one collarbone to the next.

Calum and Michael stand either side of Ashton and read it too. They're quiet for a while and Luke wonders if they hate it. Finally a smile cracks Calum's face.

"I love it," he says. "Where'd you find the quote?"

Luke smiles, hiding his face a bit. "Thought of it myself," he says.

Calum and Michael are nodding, approving. The tattoo artist calls the pair of them over so he can wrap their tattoos. Luke smiles at Ashton.

"Do you like it Ash?" 

Ashton is still studying the letters on Luke's skin. "I do like it," he says finally. "I was just wondering how you thought of it."

Luke shrugs. "Since you said we needed to get away for a bit on this trip, I've been thinking. I don't wanna drown in something boring that I hate. And I know I can't afford another three years of uni but I need to find something else I enjoy. I need to swim, Ash, we all need to swim."

Ashton offers a sideways smile. "We'll find you something as soon as we get home," he promises, then leans forward to enclose Luke in a tight hug. "Love you Lukey."

"Love you too Irwie."

—

11:13pm and the store is about to close. 

"Come on Ash, get something!" Calum is persisting. 

"You can't come all the way to Melbourne to watch your friends get tattoos and not get one yourself," Michael adds.

"You don't even need to get a tattoo," Luke says softly, hanging on his arm. "They do piercings too."

There's nothing that can crack Ashton like Luke's stupid angelic voice and he snaps. "Fine!" He yells. Lowering his voice, he continues. "I'm gonna get something."

He disappears in the back and is out no longer than five minutes later. The boys cheer as they see the small silver stud pierced through Ashton's nose.

"Looks great," they all assure him as he pulls out his wallet.

Luke follows him to the till and whispers in his ear. "Looks sexy."

Ashton smirks. "I'm gonna get a ring when I can change it. What do you think?"

"Yes," Luke says immediately. "Yes yes yes. Sexy."

Ashton laughs and so does the guy behind the till.

—

They crash in a cheap hotel for the night.

2:08am and everyone is asleep, all squeezed under the same ceiling.

—

The next day starts at 9:12am when Michael disturbs the silence with a scream.

"There was a bug!" He yells when everyone gives him pissed off morning faces and throws pillows at him. "It was gonna go in my ear!"

They all tell him to stop being a pussy, but they're awake now so they shower for the first time since they left Sydney and get ready for the ride to Adelaide. 

The journey starts with Mcdonalds breakfast and a Nirvana album, and they all feel strangely great. Like the weight of what's back home is getting lesser and lesser the further they drive away from it.

—

4:59pm and serenity doesn't last forever. They were all napping besides Ashton, obviously, but they're soon awake and sipping from cans of energy drink that they bought at a petrol station a couple of hours back. It should be about two hours to Adelaide and Ashton's eyes hurt, he's trying to find his glasses with one hand as the other holds the steering wheel.

"Here," Luke mumbles sleepily, bumping the case into Ashton's hand. 

"Thanks babe, where were they?" He asks as he swaps his sunglasses for the chunky frames.

"Pocket in the door," Luke says through a yawn, and Ashton smiles and puts a hand on his thigh. He loves sleepy Luke.

A loud groan emits from the back seat and Ashton checks it out through the rear-view mirror. Luke whips his head round.

"Mikey?"

"Another guy just cancelled on us. Again! How many times can this happen in a few days?" He wails, sounding comically strangled, but he's angry. Luke knows how Michael tries to make a joke out of his problems when he's really upset about them.

"What do you mean?" He asks. Calum sits in silence but is a part of the conversation all the same.

"I've been looking around Facebook for some drummers and whenever I find one that's decent enough and ask them to play a gig with us next weekend they'll say yeah then cancel! It's getting really short notice and we need a drummer, this is the biggest gig we've had in ages and if we're missing a member we're gonna look like a joke. And we won't get paid. I'm so pissed off man," Michael tells the car.

No one seems to know what to say. That is, until Luke opens his mouth. 

"I know a drummer," he says quietly and from the corner of his eye he can see Ashton glaring at him.

"Really?" Michael says. "Is he good?" He's cheered up a bit now.

"Very," Luke tells him.

"Sweet! Would you ask him for me bro?"

Luke nods slowly, turns to Ashton. He says quietly, but loud enough for the back seat to hear, "babe, would you drum for Mikey's band next weekend?"

Michael and Calum gasp, confused, and Ashton accidentally stalls the car. 

"What?" Michael asks, and Ashton is furious. Furious that Luke would bring it up when he _knows_ Ashton doesn't like to talk about it, especially in front of the other boys. What the fuck is Luke playing at?

"Ashton, can you play drums?" Calum questions. 

Ashton is rather violently trying to restart the car, and when it gives he speeds off down the deserted road. He's getting faster and faster and soon they're verging on 90mph and Luke has to do something.

"Ashton!" He yells and Ashton pushes his foot down on the accelerator a little more before grudgingly slowing down.

Michael and Calum are quiet in the back seat as Ashton slows all the way down to 20mph. 

"I play drums," he says. "But I can't play for your band Mikey, I'm sorry."

Michael sighs and Luke has a weird feeling in his chest that's a mix of guilt and sadness and something else he can't put his finger on. It doesn't feel good though. 

"Sorry," Luke whispers and Ashton hears, he just doesn't say anything.

—

7:04pm and Adelaide would look so much better if Ashton wasn't ignoring Luke. It's worse because he's talking to Michael and Calum, even though it's only a little bit.

They've just checked into some crappy bed and breakfast on the edge of the city, again all sharing the same room, and Calum looks at the clock.

"Shall we go get some dinner?" He asks, despite the obvious tension that fills the room like toxic gas. 

"Yeah," Luke and Michael say together. "Ashton?" Michael asks.

"I'm not hungry," he says. "Go without me."

And Luke feels like such a dick. He desperately wants to crawl over to Ashton and sit in his lap and whisper his sorrys over and over until they're embedded in Ashton's skin and he can feel them seeping into his skeleton. He doesn't though. He's gonna give Ashton some space, Luke wouldn't want to be with him either if he was Ashton.

"You sure?" Michael asks. 

Ashton nods.

"We'll bring you something back," Calum says softly, and the three boys step out into the hallway, leaving Ash behind in a cloud of his own misery. 

—

9:22pm and the boys have a plan. Michael and Calum are gonna go to the pub (not like that's a problem for them) so Luke can go back to the BnB and talk to Ashton. 

He walks into the converted house with a wrapped burger in one hand, and a single rose he just bought from a closing florist in the other. They didn't lock the door so Luke just opens it and he can see Ashton straight away, face down on the only bed in the room.

Luke is silent, toeing off his shoes and closing the door. The burger wrap rustles but Ashton doesn't stir. Luke hopes he isn't asleep. 

He walks the short distance over to the double bed and perches on the edge. Ashton must feel the bed dip, but again he doesn't move. 

"Hey," Luke says, soft and quiet and not even sure Ashton heard him.

Ashton heard him, he turns his head the other way. Luke gets up and follows, walking round to the other side of the bed.

"I got you a burger," Luke offers. Ashton is silent. Luke sighs and places it on the bedside table, along with the rose. "Look Ash, I'm sorry. I know I shouldn't have done it and I know that it was wrong and not what you wanted but I just-"

Ashton is looking at him, big brown-green-gold eyes staring at him, waiting, and Luke kind of wants to cry. "You just what?" He says, his voice is kinda croaky.

Luke exhales, looks away from his face. "You're so talented Ash, and people need to know that. It's just one show, I thought you'd go for it but when you didn't say anything I, _wrongly_ , did. And I'm sorry, again, but I just want everyone to know how amazing you are. I thought you might want everyone to know how amazing you are."

Ashton has turned over now and is staring at the ceiling. He doesn't speak for a minute. "I appreciate it Luke, I really do, but I'd rather _I_ be the one to put myself in situations I find uncomfortable, you know?"

Luke nods quickly. "I know, I know, I know. I'm sorry."

Ashton smiles a little bit. "Stop apologising, silly."

Luke smirks. "Sorry sorry sorry sorry sorry."

Ashton's mouth flicks into a grin and he lunges forward, so his face is next to Luke's. "I forgive you, okay, but don't ever do anything like that again you fucking _goose_."

"Never," Luke shakes his head, and Ashton lies back on the bed, reaching forward to grab Luke's middle and pull him down on top of him.

Luke laugh-yelps, Ashton knows he's ticklish there, and comfies himself on top of Ashton. "I love you," he breathes into his neck, fingers dancing along his stomach where his shirt's ridden up.

"I love you too," Ashton says, kissing the top of his head. "Where's Malum?" He asks a moment later.

"Pub," Luke says. "Wanted to get out the way so we could ‘sort ourselves out’," he air-quotes.

Ashton smiles. "Hey, wanna join them?" 

Luke struggles upwards, looks Ashton in the face. "Yeah, just, one minute-"

He lunges forward to kiss Ashton's beautiful mouth and Ash falls back from the shock of it, giggling into his mouth but he stops when Luke simultaneously shoves his tongue in his mouth and rolls his crouch against Ashton's.

Ashton's moans are strangled as he lies beneath Luke, letting him strip him of his shirt and palm his dick through his tight-ass jeans. 

"Missed this," he mumbles against Ashton's chest as he kisses and bites and licks it all over, from his collarbones to his nipples and Ashton groans in response. "Ever since you got your nose pierced," Luke adds and Ashton is impatient, jutting his hips up to meet Luke's but finding nothing.

"Patience," Luke smirks and Ashton whines, long and low as Luke makes his way down, undoing and pulling down his jeans painfully slowly.

There's already a wet patch on Ashton's striped boxers and Luke tuts, but of course he's pleased. He kisses Ashton again, slow this time, and snakes a hand down to rub Ash through his underwear. When he feels he's suffered enough Luke pulls down the material and smirks at the sight of Ashton's dick. Hard and red, all for him.

He slowly slowly slowly goes down his chest, licking a stripe down his naval and stopping once his head is between his legs. He kisses his inner thigh once, twice, three times before taking his dick in his hand. Ashton whimpers and Luke smirks. He licks the head, teasing, and Ashton wants to punch Luke in the face. Finally Luke puts it in his mouth, swirling his tongue around the head. It doesn't take long for Ashton to come, the warm load slipping down Luke's throat.

Luke smiles at Ashton, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand. Ashton looks at him, half-lidded eyes, breathing heavily. 

"Dick," he says, a tired smile on his face and Luke grins and kisses his forehead.

They lay beside each other for a moment, and Luke's own hard dick hasn't gone unnoticed. When Ashton's recovered he climbs on top of Luke.

"Your turn," he smirks, and Luke thinks this is probably a lot better than going to a pub.

—

1:33am and Michael and Calum stumble back to their BnB room. They're drunk, there were some hot girls challenging them to a shot competition and of course the pair wanted to show off. They'd lost, and so also lost the chance to hook up with the girls. Whatever.

"Shh!" Calum spits loudly as Michael rambles about the differences between a hotel and a BnB. "Luke and Ashton are prob-ly sleepin'."

Michael nods, exaggerated look of understanding on his face, and clumsily puts his finger to his lips. Calum nods approvingly. 

He inches the door open and whispers (practically yells) to Michael, "I hope they haven't killed each other." 

They see they haven't, because on the bed are two over-grown humans curled into each other like a couple of kittens. 

"Awww," Michael and Calum coo, before realising they're gonna have to sleep on the floor.

They grumble and mutter curses but if anything, they're just pleased that Luke and Ashton are okay.

—

8:09am and Ashton whispers to Luke, "1... 2... 3..." The pair take a huge breath. "Go."

"WAKE UP!" They yell, Luke in Michael's ear and Ashton into Calum's. The pair leap up like a pair of fish and Luke and Ashton almost piss themselves laughing.

"What the fuc-"

"30 hour drive commencing in half an hour!" Ashton announces. "Up and ready or we leave without you!" 

Luke and Ashton rush out of the door, already dressed, to go and get some much needed breakfast for their pathetic best friends. Calum and Michael remain on the floor, clueless and hungover.

—

1:01pm in the tin can car on a deserted road taking them closer and closer to the end of their trip. No sadness hangs in the air, not yet, and everyone seems content. They've been listening to the entire Fall Out Boy discography for the past four hours, but they boys are getting restless and the car is getting really hot. 

Ashton turns the radio down a bit. "There's a town coming up guys, wanna stop in for a bit? Get something to eat?" 

Michael and Calum are still nursing their sore heads so they only make incoherent noises. Luke says yes.

The town is tiny, they drive right through it by accident, but after some laughter and reversing they find a little empty café. They walk inside and everything is made of wood, wooden flooring, wooden counter, wooden tables and wooden chairs. Luke feels like they're inside a café-shaped tree. 

"Coffee," Calum says, stumbling towards the closest table. "I need coffee."

The sit down at Calum's selected table and a friendly looking lady potters over to them. Her accent is so strong it's barely understandable, even for the boys. "What can I get for you boys?" She asks, smiling widely and producing a little notebook.

Calum has his head smoothed against the wood of the table. "Coffee," he says. "Lots of coffee."

The lady laughs and scribbles it down. "You boys had a rough night in the city?"

"Just these two," Ashton laughs, pointing to Michael and Calum who both wear sunglasses and wrinkled clothes.

The lady smiles, "been a long time since I've been out to the city. What else would you like?"

The boys order their food and it arrives not long after, and soon they're leaving and placing a large tip in the friendly lady's hand, thanking her for the food.

—

Back in the car and the boys are bored of Fall Out Boy now. Ashton's wearing his glasses again so Luke knows his eyes hurt.

"Pull over," Luke says. "Let me drive."

"No it's fine babe, I've got it," Ashton tries to assure him, but Luke isn't having any of it.

"I want to drive," Luke says, and Ashton finally gives in.

Whilst they switch drivers Michael gets out and gets his guitar from the boot. He feels considerably better now, and so does Calum.

Luke adjusts the seat and mirrors slightly and Ashton comfies himself up against the window, ready to take a nap. Luke leans over to kiss him quickly.

The next few hours of the drive are spent quietly and thoughtfully, clouds gather above the car and it starts to rain a little bit. Luke's a careful driver so the car moves slower than when Ashton's at the wheel, and Michael sits in the back plucking at his guitar. Calum sings a bit and they sound kind of good, the rain a nice background noise.

—

6:47pm and the car is almost silent. Ashton is still sleeping and Calum and Michael joined him soon after, so Luke's been driving with the radio on low for the last for hours. He listens to The Maine's gentlest songs, and the rain has let up now. The evening sun is struggling out through the wispy clouds and they're the only car on the road, besides the few that zoom past every now and then.

Luke's sneaking glances at Ashton as he sleeps, because he loves the way Ashton looks when he sleeps. All the stress that sits on his face during the day slips away, and what's left is the most innocent face Luke has ever seen. Long curly eyelashes and pouted pink lips. A subtle slice of cheekbone and all the undisturbed marks that show Ashton's lived - the chicken pox scars, the acne scars, and now his nose piercing.

Ashton stirs, opens his eyes to find Luke looking at him. He smiles.

"Hello sleeping beauty," Luke says softly.

"Good evening my fine prince," he replies stretching his arms up. "What's the time?"

"Almost seven. You hungry?" 

"Yeah," Ashton frowns.

"There's a petrol station coming up somewhere, according to my phone. We need to fill up the car anyway, we can pick up some food there?"

"Yeah that's fine babe," Ashton says, yawns. He turns around. "how long they been asleep?"

"Few hours? I'll wake them up when we stop."

Ashton just nods and rubs his eyes, trying to make himself more awake.

—

They stop for food then journey on through the night, switching drivers every few hours so everyone can have a sleep. 

But perhaps the most perfect moment of the whole trip is when it's 5:52am and Ashton is back to driving, when he stops the car because the sun is about to rise. He wakes Luke gently, along with Calum and Michael, telling them that they have to watch the sun rise.

The car is pulled up at the side of the deserted road, and the old picnic blanket is strewn on the floor again. The boys dump their sleepy selves down and look up, it's that weird time where both the moon and sun are out, each taking up just a tiny bit of sky. No one says a word.

They watch as the sun gets higher and the sky gets brighter, pale blue to bright blue with some wispy morning clouds dancing slowly across it. They're silent as it happens, besides shallow inhales and exhales, and they're all deep in thought. 

The point of the trip was to get away right? To get away from everything back home, but what's the point if they go back to everything without even thinking about making a change to what gets them down? They're seven hours from Perth and four days into this road trip that's yet to bear a purpose. Calum speaks first.

"When we get back home I'm gonna apply for a college course."

The boys turn to him, one by one, little smiles. "That's great man," Ashton says.

"Yeah. What you gonna do?"

"Not Accounts!" Luke interjects, and everyone laughs.

"Don't know," Calum says. "Engineering? I quite like the idea of inventing new things."

"That's awesome," the boys smile, and Calum smiles too. He feels all warm inside, motivated and already kind of accomplished.

The sun is hanging in the sky now but they stay sat on the floor.

"I want to play drums for you Mikey," Ashton says quietly. 

Michael approaches with caution. "Really man? Are you sure?"

Ashton nods confidently. "Yeah," he says, then looks at Luke, who is already looking at him in disbelief. "If you don't swim, you'll drown," he says softly, and Luke grins, wraps his arms around Ashton's neck.

"IloveyouIloveyou," he mutters and Ashton gives him a squeeze.

"Thanks so much man," Michael says, hugging Ashton from the other side. 

Calum looks over at his stupid sappy friends having their cuddle sandwich and says, "oh what the hell," and attaches himself to Luke, stretching his arms around so he can just about touch Mikey.

"I love you guys," someone says, their identity muffled by the hug and the other three yell it back.

They peel themselves apart and decide that they should finish their drive to Perth, and celebrate the road trip in style. Michael's talking about how he knows some good clubs down there, and Calum is chattering excitedly back.

The front seat is quieter though, and Ashton turns to Luke, dopey grin on his face.

"I've been thinking..." He starts, picking up Luke's hand and playing with his fingers. "We've been together for a couple of years now and I wanted to ask you if, uh, if you'd like to move in with me?" He looks up, eyes swimming with something that looks like love and admiration and honesty all in one and Luke's face breaks into the hugest smile Ashton has ever seen.

"Yes," Luke says. "Yes yes yes. I want to move in with you," he beams, then throws his arms around Ashton's neck. He pulls back quickly though. "Oh my god. We can get a dog!"

A laugh erupts from Ashton and he kisses the top of Luke's nose. "Yes babe. Anything for you."

—

6:20am and the little red car speeding towards Perth full of twenty-something boys doesn't look like anything unusual to those on the outside, but to those inside it is something unusual. Something like a revelation, or the beginning of a new life, or the biggest turning point in their stories so far. 

Something like that, anyway.


End file.
